'Carriers' review

Carriers is in theaters now

A few years back, Paramount made a little film called Carriers that, due to reasons incomprehensible by mere mortals like us, got put on a shelf instead of getting put in theaters. It starred four young up-and-coming actors whose names you probably wouldn’t recognize and it featured Christopher Meloni in a side role.

Then, back in May, J.J. Abrams released his revamp of the original Star Trekseries starring Chris Pine as Captain Kirk. As it turns out, Chris Pine also starred in Carriers; and now that you might just recognize his name on a poster, it seems that Paramount decided it was time for Carriers to see the light of day.

Now, contrary to what the trailer, ad campaign, and net buzz would lead you to believe, Carriers is not a zombie movie. Yes, there is a viral epidemic and yes, it wipes out most of the human race. But rather than turning those infected into violent, mindless, flesh-eating ghouls, it simply brings them a slow and painful death. And in a way, this helps the film.

Zombie films usually touch on the moral dilemma of an infected loved one. But once the grabbing and the biting and the flesh eating starts, dear old zombie Grandma gets dispatched quickly (it’s what she would have wanted) and the plot moves on. Carriers, on the other hand, focuses centrally on the issue of “what do you do when someone you love contracts this extremely contagious, fatal, and untreatable disease?” By eliminating the undead cannibalism aspect from essentially the same formula, this film has opened up much more morally ambiguous territory with the mantra, “The sick are already dead.”

Paramount’s initial hesitancy to release Carriers seemingly implies that it’s not very good but, going into the theater with low expectations, you may leave pleasantly surprised. It’s not a particularly good movie, but it hovers just above mediocrity. It might best be described as “watchable.” It has enough gore to be considered a horror movie, but it’s not a gory movie; it’s thoughtful enough to maintain interest, but not enough to be called a thoughtful film; and the characters are written well enough to stand out in the genre, but it’s not a character study.

Carriers is a rather middling film in almost every respect. This basically means that while some may really enjoy it, others may feel they’ve wasted their money, and they might both have valid points. Carriers definitely treads on familiar ground, but it explores different issues than most disease/zombie/apocalypse movies, and for that reason alone, this film is worth checking out for horror fans.

Carriers is playing locally only at the AMC Loews Waterfront Theater.